Friday, December 4, 2009

The Peanut Butter Jar...... and me

Forgive me, I am back again today in a real writing spurt apparently, and I am going to throw out some marriage mush......... so this is your warning. You can stop now and go get a snack, take a walk, or sit and not begrudge me a little chat on true love here on Haywood.

You stayin' or gettin' outta here??

Well Ok then. :) A little mush never hurt anyone.

My husband like YOUR husband has his quirks: Singing to a song playing on a CD in the car when he for sure does not remember more than the first line for instance. Now one would think we would stop there and let others enjoy the song since those who recorded it DO obviously know the words and we can learn them from them....

Nope.

We continue singing anywhoo, throwing in words that SOUND like the real words being used.

Ahem......

"I long to see your face" becomes "I long for.....word....or......um...grace." Now I would not entirely include this when arguments arise regarding the issue of "speaking in tongues," but it is a close second.

How about parking in a DO NOT PARK zone for "just a sec" to run into a store to apparently do something important, leaving......... you guessed it...ME in the front seat to wave and smile at those who care to show me by facial expressions what they think of my decision to sit my car where it should not be as they drive past.

Well last night set me up for this post. Isaac was finishing up making the lunches for school today and got to the end of the peanut butter jar. Now I must insert that in normal homes this scenario would be followed by the peanut butter jar making a short trip to the garbage, end of story.

Nay my friends. Not here on Haywood.

Sooner than you can say "Rumplesnort," my Husband instructed Isaac to be sure to put the jar in the sink to be washed.

Yes you heard that right. W-A-S-H-E-D.

And no, Aldi's peanut butter jars have not suddenly become collector's items. We wash them to keep them because you just never know when you will need one of them to put nails, or other things into. Or so Hubby tells me.

So today I got the jar open and commenced scrubbing. Not only do your hands get all greasy from the peanut oil, but the wrapper begins to peel off so you just can't leave it half on and half off, SO THEN you have to scratch it with your nail to get the rest off, followed by a tidal wave of soap and hot water (because it has to be near scalding to get the smell and oil out of it) hitting your shirt as you plunge your washcloth into it to scrub it.

In the time it takes to clean out a peanut butter jar I KNOW I can consume a lot of something smothered in caramel.

For sure on that.

So WHY on earth do I scrub the nasty peanut butter jar??

I am glad you asked.

I scrub the peanut butter jar because I love my husband. I scrub the peanut butter jar because it makes him happy. I scrub the peanut butter jar because I prefer my husband over myself.

Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Doing something that I like to do for my own benefit takes no act of my will to do it. Scrubbing the peanut butter jar does.

You gettin' it?

When I said "I Do." Inadvertently I was also saying "I will." I will love you enough to pick up your socks. I will love you enough to chase your hoodlums around the house til 4:30, when I will have dinner hot and ready and on the table like you like it.

Jeanette Oake has nothin' on me here on Haywood. You can read all the "Love Comes Swift, Soft, Sullen" or WHATEVER you like, and you will still never touch what we have goin' on here on Haywood friends.

Real love is choosing to scrub the peanut butter jar. I Corinthians 13 tells us that love "seeketh not her own," and "beareth all things." For Pete's sake that has to include the peanut butter jar.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a die hard romantic. Just ask my friend Tammy. :) But I am a practical romantic. Love is doing things to help the one you love for no other reason but to help them. And you know I don't really even need a reason or explanation to scrub the peanut butter jar. I need to do it because of the love I have for my husband.

Laugh if you will, but the truth is that love comes in many different acts of kindness towards your spouse. Remember will you that love is an action and to Jeanette Oake'schagrin not a feeling. If I had "fallen into love," when the peanut butter jar arrived, I would have fallen into a bowl of ice cream with caramel sauce instead. I decided to love my husband and so I decided to clean yet another peanut butter jar.

And if you are ever in the area and have a handful of nails.......we got ya covered.

3 comments:

Deena - what a great post! Isn't being truly in love one of the greatest gifts we can get? There are plenty of times I do things that I would rather not be doing but I end up doing them because I know they will make Paul happy. Keep up with the posts. I so enjoy reading about your cozy life on Haywood.

ah, i get to post on the same page as bernie. i just, just, just finished cleaning our smucker's peanut butter jar and thought i would come over and check on haywood. these days i read the royalty review and not janette oke. our garage shelves are too lined with hardware in jars. on the practical side, i found a trick that makes the job less of a chore for me. i first spray the inside with fantastic or whatever spray i have and than wipe it out with a paper towel a time or two. seems to make the job way easier for me. so from one peanut butter jar cleaner to another, hope it helps. bernie said it well, so i will leave the mush post to her.love you,tam

Meet our Family

I am "Wife" to my college sweetheart Joel, I am "Mom" to six children, Isaac- 13, Abigail- 12, Caleb-10, Nathan- 9, Anna- 6 and Alayna- 4. We are not your "normal" family. We live simply, love much, learn something new everyday and seek to be a real blessing to others and a witness for Christ here in our corner of the globe. I am busy, as all Mom's and Wives are, but love having the opportunity to jot down some things that will make us all laugh later!